Live data from Hacker News

Plastics are poisoning us

newyorker.com

181–190 of 528 posts

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#181
post #174
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teflon Aka Polytetrafluoroethylene cookware represents a health hazard. The stuff contains a great deal of Florine and breaks down at 300C, but that’s not purely binary instead it becomes increasingly unstable as your approach the temperature. Further no manufacturing process is perfect, I wouldn’t therefore assume eating significant quantities would be safe. That said, it’s generally used as a coating rather than a…

Does it contain Fluorine (a dangerous halogen gas) or does it contain Fluoride (the ion of that gas, commonly added to toothpaste and drinking water).

Flourine...

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know PLA is safe? I'm sure you would have thought lead was safe at the time

Thank you for bringing this up, I may be incorrect. I looked at the formula and that Oxygen double bond attached to a carbon with another oxygen bond... yikes! I have no idea why this is stable. It appears stable, but you wonder about things like UV light, exposure to some cation, etc... Well, seems like I have reading to do. (Chem engineer here, I feel like its my responsibility, similar to how programmers read open…

What does the oxygen double bond bit do? (Automation/controls here and high school organic chemistry was a long time ago, but I've printed kilos and kilos of PLA parts... some parts seem fine after being installed outdoors in full sunlight in a hot environment, they're nonstructural and covered in dust though.)

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#183
post #100
post #89

Considering how ubiquitous plastics are, they look rather harmless to me. We are wasting hundreds of millions of tons per year, we eat it, drink it, we have been doing that for decades and we are still discussing statistical signifiance. Sure, not completely harmless, but few things are. And considering the tremendous value plastics have brought to society, I'd say the downsides are comparatively small. What worries…

There's microplastics which are now absolutely everywhere. Apparently we consume a credit card's worth of plastic per month. Nobody should feel ok about consuming a drink that's got a ground up credit card in it, yet that's what we're doing. In Asia especially it's crazy how plastic is often used - you go to a 7/11 to buy a cold drink, they put it in TWO flimsy plastic bags which you throw in the first trash can you…

> There's microplastics which are now absolutely everywhere. Apparently we consume a credit card's worth of plastic per month. Nobody should feel ok about consuming a drink that's got a ground up credit card in it, yet that's what we're doing.

And what's the effect? We've been doing this for decades?

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#184
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Water bottles, if not cleaned properly with a soap and brush on the inside, will be coated with a bacterial "lawn". Copper prevents that. Lots of bacteria need such a lawn to propagate, only some can multiply without a substrate. So even if the "free" water part won't be desinfected, copper has an overall positive effect on the bacterial content of your drinking water.

Do you hesitate to drink water from a normal glass or cup as well?

No. I was just explaining why copper is better in that regard, not that I would personally care that much. I do prefer stainless steel, because it is more robust, dishwasher-safe and cheaper.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know PLA is safe? I'm sure you would have thought lead was safe at the time

Thank you for bringing this up, I may be incorrect. I looked at the formula and that Oxygen double bond attached to a carbon with another oxygen bond... yikes! I have no idea why this is stable. It appears stable, but you wonder about things like UV light, exposure to some cation, etc... Well, seems like I have reading to do. (Chem engineer here, I feel like its my responsibility, similar to how programmers read open…

Prusa has some good info on it. It’s not recommended for outdoor use although I have some outside now doing fine so far (I’m testing PLA vs PETG). https://help.prusa3d.com/article/pla_2062

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume that the list from less toxic to more toxic is: silica -> iron -> aluminum -> copper With a logarithmic scale unit between each step or so. We ingest and tolerate much more aluminum than copper in our daily journey and we could drink water with much more iron oxide dissolved on it than aluminum oxide without suffering permanent problems

Where's titanium on that scale?

Titanium in perfectly pure form is very reactive and it would be dangerous in contact with organic matter.

Fortunately, it is pretty much impossible to come in contact with pure titanium, because whenever it is exposed to air it becomes immediately covered with titanium dioxide.

The ratio between electric charge and radius of the titanium ions is such that titanium dioxide is one of the least soluble oxides. It is practically inert in water or blood.

This inertness of the titanium dioxide ensures that titanium is one of the safest materials for making implants that will have to stay forever in a human body or for making objects that will be in contact with food.

While glass remains the best food-contact material, titanium is a decent choice for applications where glass might break, e.g. spoons.

On that scale, titanium would be placed between silicon and iron. It should be kept in mind that the position on that scale actually refers to the behavior of the oxides, not of the pure elements, because all the elements mentioned are oxidized quickly in air and they are oxidized even faster in a living body.

Titanium dioxide is more inert than silicon dioxide, so less of it can become dissolved, but once the two oxides are dissolved, the silicon dioxide is safer, because most living cells have mechanisms to deal with it.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#187

I became a minimist to save the planet as much as i could. Its easier than any one could think you know. Here is what i have been doing for a decade and would receommend 1. Reusing plastic bags (i love cotton bags but not ideal). Fold and keep one or two in your pocket before you leave home 2. Support and use light software so you dont need to upgrade your gadgets (12y laptop i use) 3. Prepare and eat home cooked mea…

4. Walking. A bit less minimalistic: ride your (non e-) bike, scooter, skateboard, kayak, sled, basically anything non motorized. Use best tire quality so you don’t change then often. A bite more minimalistic: prefer walking barefoot anytime you can. Shoes are tire that wear out. King of related: still looking for shoe/soles that last. My grand mother used to wear wood clogs, not sure where to find some that fits me.

Wood clogs sound terrible for the health of your feet.

There's guides for making huaraches with tire rubber.

And there's also barefoot sandals that claim to last a life time (but cost like 100 bucks).

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#189

Remind me why should we save the environment/planet? At this point its owned by big corporations and governments, so it should be them who need to save it.

Because we live in it.

I hope to be breathing tomorrow. Therefore I care about what we put in the air today.

I hope to be eating next year. Therefore I care about what we put in the soil this year.

I hope to be drinking next decade. Therefore I care about what goes into the groundwater this decade.

What I eat, drink, and breathe becomes my body. If those things are garbage (or worse, poison), my health will suffer.

[Edit: And to answer the actual thrust of your question, because the corporations aren't going to.]

Corporations may "own" that stuff (I disagree, but let that pass). But my body is mine, and corporations aren't going to take care of it for me.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just use glass... completely non reactive, fully recyclable. The perfect container.

If I drop my plastic water bottle I pick it up and carry on. If I drop my glass bottle...

It depends on the type of glass. Some glasses are incredibly resilient, and some of them are flexible. They all look the same, so people who don't know tend to think of all glass as the same substance.
Post reply on HN